Towards wafer scale inductive characterization of spin transfer torque critical current density of magnetic tunnel junction stacks

Abstract

We explore the prospects of wafer scale inductive probing of the critical current density $j^{c0}$ for spin transfer torque switching of a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junction with varying MgO thickness. From inductive measurements magnetostatic parameters and the effective damping are derived and $j^{c0}$ is calculated based on spin transfer torque equations. The inductive values compare well to the values derived from current induced switching measurements on individual nanopillars. Using a wafer scale inductive probe head could in the future enable wafer probe station based metrology of $j^{c0}$.

References in corpus (3)

• Current-induced magnetization switching in MgO barrier based magnetic tunnel junctions with CoFeB/Ru/CoFeB synthetic ferrimagnetic free layer
• Inductive determination of the optimum tunnel barrier thickness in magnetic tunnelling junction stacks for spin torque memory applications
• Towards wafer scale inductive determination of magnetostatic and dynamic parameters of magnetic thin films and multilayers